Hawaii Five-0: 2.15 “Mai Ka Wa Kahiko” Review

Television dramas shine when they give us reasons to care about their characters, and in that respect “Mai Ka Wa Kahiko (Out of the Past)” is an episode to be remembered. Grace is kidnapped by Danny’s training officer and partner from New Jersey. Rick Peterson (played by Peter Greene) lost his family when he was put in jail and is determined to make Danny, who testified against him, lose his loved ones as well.

The case of the week begins with Five-0 investigating the particularly bloody murder of Dave Collins (Jon Olson), a U.S. Marshal. Collins was a friend to Danny from New Jersey, and transporting a prisoner who escaped through the airplane’s wheel well. When Steve and Danny capture him, they find out he’s not their killer and was let free by someone else on the plane to serve as a diversion.

When Danny finds the true killer’s address he phones Steve and Chin, who go there to find surveillance photos of Danny, Grace, Rachel, and Stan. Knowing in advance that this episode would feature Grace in trouble didn’t lessen the shock I felt at the images popping up one after another. Nor did it diminish my sense of anticipation as Peterson, dressed as a police officer, lured Grace with lies. By the time we see the shot of her hand in his I was swept up in emotion that didn’t let up from that point on.

We’ve seen the bond between Danny and Grace in previous episodes yet “Mai Ka Wa Kahiko” doesn’t let those episodes speak alone. It worked to engage even first-time viewers with well-paced scenes and fantastic acting. Scott Caan’s performance as a dad in distress is stunning, and is solidly backed up by palpable concern from his teammates and fear from Rachel. A chillingly effective Peterson was the perfect counterpoint.

Peterson’s plans for Danny to lose his family start by having him text Rachel with news that he’ll make Stan pay for breaking them up. We find out Peterson discovers Danny’s continued devotion to Rachel from a voice mail where Danny says he wants to be with Rachel despite the baby being Stan’s. While I feel the plot lines involving Danny and Rachel’s relationship may best be left alone at this point, it was true to Danny’s character.

Further consistency in his character was shown when — in order to save Grace — he did something he would never have done otherwise. For a show that has previously given us Danny as a father who seems willing to go to extremes to protect his daughter, I was glad to see concrete evidence of this. He is told to shoot and kill Stan or Grace will die, yet from the promo I had expected something like Peterson shooting Stan himself, or having Stan be in on the plan with a bulletproof vest and last minute rescue from Steve, who we saw in the promo running towards Danny. Although Danny’s teammates had previously been unable to contact him or locate his car, when they figured out Peterson’s endgame and located Stan they rushed to the scene. They weren’t quite soon enough, however, as Danny does shoot Stan, although non-fatally, and I’m pleased I was wrong and the show didn’t take the easy way out. I hope a future episode gives us some follow-up from Danny’s shooting Stan, as well as his shooting Peterson in the leg so he’d give up Grace’s location.

The episode wraps up with Danny rescuing a scared but safe Grace from a storage unit with the help of “Uncle Steve,” who watches as Danny carries Grace to Rachel and holds them both. The expressions on the faces of Steve, Chin, and Kono speak volumes about their horror at what could have happened and their relief that it didn’t.

Aside from the main story line, I liked seeing Steve and Lori interacting outside of work; any time we see Five-0 members not on the job it gives the characters more depth. The low point of the episode for me was the product placement. While it doesn’t normally bother me so much, I felt that in this case it interrupted the narrative. Lori’s “let me look it up” sounded unnatural, as if she wasn’t able to anticipate that the information would have been requested, but that’s easily overlooked in the context of everything that”Mai Ka Wa Kahiko” got right.

Although this was a Danny-centric episode and Scott Caan’s acting abilities were front and center, Alex’s performance was also strong. His reaction to the surveillance photos helped hammer home the danger to Grace, and he did a great job at showing McGarrett’s worry for his friend and the struggle for professionalism. During the climatic scene he brought physical and emotional intensity to the sprint to save Danny from killing Stan.

Hawaii Five-0 is as much — or more — about family and team than it is about solving crimes and I was glad to see both family and team so strongly portrayed in this week’s episode.

For local views on “Mai Ka Wa Kahiko”, see the recaps by:

Five-0 Redux

Five-0 Undercover

Hawaii Five-0: 2.15 “Mai Ka Wa Kahiko” Review

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